Anyone Has A 2 Yr Lease Of A Apt. Without A Guarantee?

[citygirl]

If you intend to furnish it in the style of a luxury apt (which you referenced in your first post), I would estimate *at least* 10-15K in DOLLARS, not pesos (and honestly, prob a lot more). Pesos - ni en pedo. Quality furniture is very, very expensive here. Sure, you could do it for much cheaper with 2nd hand stuff, etc but that doesn't sound like what you're interested in.

Let's see - for reference - I just had a wood bar built for entertaining at home. That one piece of furniture cost about 9000 pesos.

Luxury mattresses, flat screen tvs, designer or antique furniture - huge price tag on them. And let's not talk about the price of "quality" bedding, towels, etc (and I put quality in quotes b/c on average, there is very little selection here and it's pretty much a joke compared to what you find outside of Argentina when it comes to comparing thread count, quality of the cotton, etc).

As for renting, yes, you can do it if you find a landlord that is flexible but be prepared to pay at least 6 months up front.

ANd I assume you've considered the hassle of getting utilities set up (be prepared to be without internet etc for a while), buying every single of furniture down to ovens, washing machines, air conditioners, heaters, etc.

IMO, luxury apts are usually a great deal for renters. Unless you have tried to furnish an apt here from scratch, you have no idea how expensive it is and the headaches involved in doing it.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I've never had to use a guarantia here and that has been since 2006. We have one, we just don't use it. We are currently 4 months into a 2-year lease on a very nice apartment in Belgrano. No guarantia.

Like was said above, this is Latin America. Having a great combination of "nice" along with good negotiating skills will get you far. I'm the nice part. My wife is the negotiator.

I have used the rental agent to my advantage. I think el expatriato posted at some point about real estate agents being very un-ethical. Use that to your advantage. The agent should be working for the apartment owner. Not true. The agent works for the commission. I have made deals with the agent and promised a higher commission than what they would have gotten from the owner in return for a lower monthly rent and no guarantia.

So far I'm batting 1000.

Definitely look into the insurance. Many people (not just expats) who need to rent do not have a guarantia.

 

[trennod]

Ceviche, in terms of furnitue, we have kitted out our apartment with a selection of new stuff & second hand, I have the details of most of the main stuff we have purchased so far in an excel so here is a bit of a run down here so you can get an idea on prices:
- $2850 pesos silver Patrick fridge / freezer frost free (new, Mercadolibre)
- $770 pesos microwave (new, Mercado Libre)
- $250 pesos Kettle (new, Garbarino)
- $170 pesos Electrolux toaster (new, Garbarino)
- $3500 pesos Samsung Full HD Plasma 32 inch (new, Mercadolibre)
- $2400 pesos Gafa Washing Machine (new, Fravega)
- $400 pesos white long TV / DVD table (new, Mercadolibre)
- $350 pesos Philips Iron (new, Mercadolibre)
- $280 pesos Ironing Board (new, Fereteria)
- $260 pesos Walter filter jug with more filters (new, Mercadolibre)
- $400 pesos TV & DVD table (new, Mercadolibre)
- $1750 pesos Wardrobe (new, Mercadolibre)

- $650 pesos stuff for bathroom (all new including bin, shower curtains, good quality towels, toothbrush holders etc)
- $2000 -$2500 pesos (approx) for kitchen stuff which includes (all new, includes decent quality Tramontina pots, pans and knives, plates, bowls, glasses, serving & cooking spoons etc, placemats etc etc)
- $4500 pesos (mates rates, second hand items that we got lucky with picking up from a friend including a couch, samsung air conditioner, bedside tables desk and a couple of other things)

If my calcs are right its about $21k in pesos, note for the stuff on mercado I havent included postage which might bring you up closer to $22k. Oh as well I should say this has all been purchased over the course of the last 14 months, with most in the first 6.

If say you wanted to buy a new table, couch and bed that would obviously be a bit more, perhaps something like this:
- decent table with 4 chairs (maybe $5k pesos)
- couch ($5k pesos)
- bed, this one is very subjective, perhaps say $4-5k as well

So that would be a total of $15k, less the $5k approx I spent on used stuff. Which would bring you up to $32kish.

At official rate, thats about US7k ish.

We still have a few things to get but most of the major whitegoods, furniture purchases have been made. I also bought a few things from home that I havent included, like my really good quality sheets and doona cover and other random crap. Oh we also bought a whiteboard and xmas tree (like 700 pesos in total) but not sure you need them!!

I was lucky enough to get a relocation allowance from work so we didnt stooge, but didnt go over the top either (were comfortable and we have everything we need but certainly wouldnt call it living the high life). But anyhoo, were young (me 26, mrs 23) so its probs not a bad guide for a cpl in apt, sin kids.